Peters



(No Model.) 2 Sheetp-Sheet 2.

IE. & E. H. THOMPSON.

v CIGAR BUNGHING MAGHINE.

No. 349,069. Patented Sept. 14, 1886.

amma PATENT Erica.

FRANCIS THOMPSON AND EDWARD H. THOMPSON, OF ALLEGHENY CITY, PA.

GlGAR-BUNCHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,069, dated eptember14, 1886.

Application filed November 11. 1885. Serial No. 182,416. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FRANCIS THoMPsoN and EDWARD H. THOMPSON, ofAllegheny City, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania,have invented anew and useful Improvement in Oigar-Bunching Machines;and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a sideelevation of our-improved machine. Fig. 2is afront view thereof, shownpartly in section on the line 50 x of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a verticallongitudinal section of the machine. Fig. 4 is a similar sectionthereof, illustrating the process of the formation of the cigar. Fig. 5is avertical cross-section of the hopper feed-cylinder, showingamodification. Fig. (5 is a longitudinal axial section thereof 011 theline 2 z of Fig. 5.

Likesigns of referenceindicate like parts in each figure.

The use for which our improved machine is primarily designed is for themanufacture of cigars composed of a filling of tobaccoscraps inclosed ina binder of leaftobacco.

The operation of measuring the quantity of tobacco necessary for a cigarand giving form to it on the binder,and then wrapping it with in thebinder, is known as bunching. It requires long experience and goodjudgment to make the bunch of a cigar by hand of uniform size and smoothoutline, and to have the filling of uniform compactness. If too muchfilling be put in any part of the cigar, it will pack tightly andprevent an easy draft of smoke.

The object of our invention is to provide,in a bunching-machine,improved means for accurately gaging the amount of filling needed in thecigar, and for rolling the bunch better, more simply, and more rapidlythan has been possible on prior machines.

Referring now to the drawings, 3 represents the bed or table of themachine on which the bunch is made.- It is on the top of astand, 2, andhas a transverse groove or recess, 4, midway of its length. A slack beltor apron, 5, is arranged on the bed 3, being fastened at the rear andfront ends thereof. The rear end of the belt is attached to a roller, 6,by means of which the belt can be drawn as tightly or made as slack asmay be desired. Aset-screw, 7, serves to hold the roller when it hasbeen properly adjusted. A roller, 8, is jonrnaled transversely to thebed 3, and but a little above its surface, and the belt 5 passes overthe roller. The journal-bearings 9 of the latter are uprights, formingpart of a frame which is mounted on the sides of the stand 2 in suchmanner as to bemovableback and forth thereon lengthwise of the bed 3.The remaining parts of this frame are a connecting bar or brace, 10,which extends underneath the surface of the stand 2 and connects theuprights 9, and a rack, 11,which is affixed to the brace 10 and extendslengthwise of the bed 3, with its teeth. downward. Asegmental pinion,12, journaled to the stand 2, meshes with the rack 11, and is connectedwith a foot-treadle, 14, by a connecting-rod, 15. By depressing thetreadle the pinion is turned, and by its action on the rack 11 the framein which the roller 8 is journaled will be moved forward in thedirection of the arrow a in the several figures, and will carry theroller over the surface of the bed. The treadle 14 has a withdrawingspring, 16, which, on removing the pressure of the foot, will raise thetreadle, and will retract the roller 8 to the rear of the bed 3. Theroller is journaled loosely in its bearings, so as to be easily rotarytherein.

The tobacco filling is supplied to the machine froma hopper, 17, whichis supported over the bed 3 by means of arms 18. The dis charge end ofthe hopper, which is directly over the transverse recess 4, is closed bya cylinder or roller, 19, journaled in suitable bearings, and having onits surface one or more longitudinal grooves, 20. If the hopper befilled with tobacco scraps, and the roller be turned so as to bring itsgroove uppermost,

the tobacco will fall thereinto, and on the roller being turned back thecontents of the groove will be discharged upon the belt 5. (See Fig. 3.)The roller 19 preferably consists of ahollow cylinder with twore-entrant parallel wings or plates, which form the groove 20. (SeeFigs. 5 and 6.) Thebottom of the latter is a plate, 21, which is fittedtherein, and is held in position at the desired distance from the ICOsurface of the cylinder by screws 22, which pass through the oppositeside of the cylinder and enter screw-sockets 25 on the under side of theplate. Coiled springs encircle the screws, and, bearing at one endagainst the inside of the cylinder and at the other end against thescrew-sockets 25, hold the plate 21 in position. 3y turning the screws22 this plate may be adjusted to any suitable distance from the upperend of the groove 20, and the springs will hold it wherever it is set.By thus adjusting the depth of the groove 20 the amount of tobaccodischarged at each revolution of the roller may be regulated accordingto the required size ofthe cigar. The surface of the plate 21 may eitherbe flat, in which case a uniform amount of tobacco will be dropped fromeach part of the groove, or the plate may be concave or otherwiseirregular in shape, when correspondingly varying amounts of tobacco willbe dropped from different parts of the groove upon the binder, and thecigar will be bunched in the desired oval or tapering form, or madecapable of be ing molded into this shape.

This is the operation of the machine: The roller 8 is brought to therear part of the bed 3, back of the recess 4, the slack of the belt 5 ispushed down into the recess, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and a binder ofleaf-tobacco is put on the belt and pressed down into the recess 4 aboveit. The hopper-cylinder, which hitherto has been in the position shownin Fig. 4, is then turned into the position shown in Fig. 5;, anddischarges its contents of scrap onto the beltin the recess 4. Thefoot-treadle 1-1 is then depressed, and this turns thepinion 12, which,meshing with the rack 11, moves the roller forward in the direction ofthe arrow a. In passing over the recess 4- the roller 8 folds the binderand the slack of the belt over the bunch of scrap, and until it passesthe recess it revolves backward in the direction of the arrow I). Vhen,however, the roller has passed the recess, the bunch will be behind it,as shown in Fig. r, and in its passage to the front end of the bed 3 therotation of the roller will be reversed, and it will continue to revolveforward in the direction of the arrow 0 until the roller reaches the endof its bed, and will wrap the binder neatly around the filler. Thecompleted bunch is discharged when the roller reaches the front end ofthe bed 3. The reversal of rotation of the bunching-roller is caused bythe drawing action of the belt thereon, and is ofgreat importance,because it tightens the binder on the bunch and produces a betterarticle than has been possible with the rigid forming-rollers heretoforein use. On releasing the foot from the treadlc 14 the spring 16 willraise it, and will retract the forming-roller S to the rear of the bed 3in readiness for forming another bunch.

Instead of the treadle, rack, 'and pinion for moving the roller 8, theremay be handles 2; affixed to the frame of the roller, by which theoperator may move the latter back and forth by his hands. In practice wehave found the treadle the more convenient device, because it leaves thehands of the workman f rec to arrange the binder.

In the operation of the hopper 17 it is desirable to have some means forpreventing the clogging of the scrap-tobacco in it and for forcing itdown into the groove in the roller 19. IVe do this by the followingmechanism: A rotary shaft, 26, is journaled in the hopper, near the basethereof, and has spurs or radial arms 27, which project from its surfacewithin the hopper. projects to the outside of the hopper is providedwith a gear-wheel, 28, which meshes with a pinion, 2S), similarly keyedto the projecting end of the hopper-roller 19. The shaft of the roller19 has a haml-cra11k,30,by which it may be rotated back and forth tobring the groove in the roller alternately within the hopper and out ofit, to receive and discharge the filler-scrap. During this rotation ofthe hopper-roller the gearing connection with the shaft 26 will likewiserotate it, and by the action of its projecting spurs the contents of thehopper will. be continually loosened and caused to settle down upon theroller 19, thus securing the uniformity of the contents of eachmanufactured bunch.

Instead of having only one groove in the hopper-roller19, and giving areciprocating rotation to the roller, it may have two or more groovesand be adapted to have a rotation in asingle direction, which will bringeach of the grooves in succession within the hopper, and discharge thecontents of the other upon the belt.

In Figs. 5 and 6 we have illustrated a device for varying the amount offilling in different parts of the bunch, and for thus giving a form tothe cigar during the bunching pro cess.

In the use of the hopper-roller before described, in which the plate 21.is straight, a constant quantity of tobacco is deposited on the belt,and astraight cigar will be produced, which is subsequently molded intoshape.

To make a tapering cigar, we bolt an auxiliary plate, 31, on the face ofthe plate 21, as shown. in Fig. 6. The surface of the plate 31. iscurved, being highest at the end opposite the month end of the bunch andlowest at the middle. Then of the tobacco deposited by the roller uponthe binder a larger quantity will be at the middle than at either end,and the least at the month end of the bunch, so that the proper ovalform will be given to the finished cigar. The resultis, that thefinished cigar will be much more symmetrical and attractive inappearance than if it be simply molded into shape and if it be afterwardmolded, the molding process will be much easier, and will not socompress the filler as to choke the cigar and make it hard to draw. Thisfeature of our invention is therefore ofgreat value. This auxiliaryplate is shown detachable from the plate 21, to enable it to beconveniently The end of this shaft which adjusted and removed. It may,however, be made integral with the lower plate, if desired.

We are aware that it is not new to employ a revoluble cylinder journaledat the base of the hopper of a cigar-machine, and having a longitudinalgroove for receiving tobacco from the hopper and discharging it on theformingbelt; nor is it new to provide such a groove with an adjustableplate for regulating the amount of tobacco discharged therefrom, and wedo not therefore make claim, broadly, to these constructions, but onlyto the improvements thereon indicated in the following claims.

We have shown the hopper-roller made of a hollow cylinder of metal with.re-entrant plates, which constitute the sides of the pocket 20, but donot limit ourselves to this specific construction, for the roller may bea solid cylinder suitably grooved, if preferred.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. In a machine for bunching cigars, a feedpocket which is arranged toreceive and discharge the tobacco filler, and which is irregularlyshaped to apportion the amount of tobacco received by and dischargedfrom the different parts of the pocket, according to the shape of thedesired bunch, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. In combination with arotary cylinder, 19,

having a longitudinal groove, 20, a plate, 21, forming the base of thegroove, and aset-screw traversing the cylinder and engaging the underside of the plate for the purpose of adjusting it vertically, andthereby increasing or diminishing the depth of the groove,'substantiallyas and for the purposes described.

3. In a cigar-machine for forming bunches for irregularly-shaped cigars,the combination of a hopper and a rotating drum having afiller-measuring recess therein of an irregular shape or contourcorresponding to that of the bunch to be formed, substantially as andfor the purposes described.

4. In a cigar-machine, the combination of a hopper, a rotary cylinderhaving a groove or pocket for receiving and discharging the filler fromthe hopper, and a removable plate in said groove or pocket, the surfaceof said plate being of irregular shape, corresponding to the amounts offiller to be received in and discharged from the parts of the groove orpocket, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set 6hr hands this 4th day ofNovember, A. D. 1885.

FRANCIS THOMPSON. EDlVAR-D H. THOMPSON. Witnesses:

W. B. UORWIN, THOMAS W. BAKEWELL.

